Great Film: Universal Soldier: The Return
Lots of kickboxing
Jean-Claude Van Damme has been in about a film a year for 15 years now, and
has been the star performer in those films since 1985's No Retreat, No
Surrender.
That's no mean achievement and shows that this action movie star has a
market for his skills, as limited as they might be. The formula isn't Van
Damme's alone but he's certainly the most prolific of the action movie
stars.
Silvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzennegger, Steven Segal, Bruce Lee and
Jackie Chan are the best known of the action stars but with the exception of
Chan, Van Damme is the one who seems to be still most actively in the
business. And these sorts of films are much less popular than they used to
be.
Jean-Claude is a terrible actor and his film world is simplistic. One can
only assume that his fans wish that the real world was like
his.
The scenario almost invariably includes lots of hand to hand fighting, silly
women and often children who need defending. The plots are stupid and
concocted only to allow Jean-Claude to fight a lot and to show his sensitive
side as he protects the women and/or children.
The mushy bits, accompanied by appropriate music, aren't ever romantic,
Jean Claude could never manage that, but they serve to depict this action
man as being a reluctant hero. He only beats people up, firstly because he
can, but secondly because he has to.
His best film so far, of the ones I've seen, was the John Woo directed Hard
Target (1993) which had many stylish touches, often in slow motion, which
accentuated the admirable Van Damme gracefulness.
I think the worst was Double Impact which unfortunately doubled the torture
- there were two characters in the film played by the Muscles From
Brussels.
And the famous, universal, Van Damme bum shot, the scene where we get to
see Jean-Claude's tastefully lit posterior, happens early on in Universal
Soldier 2. So if you like you can leave early.
Universal Soldier follows the formula. Actually I think that his fans will
like this one. There's plenty of kick boxing.
Cast
- Dr. Dylan Cotner played by Xander Berkeley
- Luc Deveraux played by Jean-claude Van Damme
- S.E.T.H. played by Michael Jai White
- Romeo / UniSol 2500 played by Bill Goldberg
- Erin Young, KTXD played by Heidi Schanz
- Captain Blackburn played by Justin Lazard
- Maggie played by Kiana Tom
